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What Is The Plan For Jenrry Mejia?

The New York Mets have never settled on a role for Jenrry Mejia, which could be the case again this spring.

At 24, Mejia is one of those promising young arms the Mets are boasting. Coming off elbow surgery, they are treating him with kid gloves, but there have been no signs of a setback.

Most starters want to pitch 30 innings in spring training, but with only two weeks left has only worked two. He could get four today against the Cubs in Las Vegas, but won’t get close to 20, much less 30.

Originally, Mejia was to compete with Daisuke Matsuzaka and John Lannan for the fifth-starter role. But, if building for the future is the objective for 2014, it should be Mejia because he has the greatest upside.

Without Matt Harvey, this would have been the perfect chance to develop Mejia. Instead, it is turning out to be a lost opportunity, either to use him for their rotation or showcase him for a trade.

With Mejia in the rotation, they’ll have a better idea of where they stand heading into 2015. If Matsuzaka gets those starts, they still won’t know about Mejia as a starter.

But, how about as a reliever?

The Mets tried that route without success in 2010. Then-manager Jerry Manuel, knowing his job was in severe jeopardy, wanted Mejia on the major league roster to work out of the bullpen to start that season. That was for Manuel’s interests, not Mejia’s.

However, Manuel wouldn’t use him in pressure situations, so Mejia languished without work when he could have been getting starts in the minor leagues.

Understandably, Mejia struggled and was eventually optioned to Triple-A to go back in the rotation. His arm didn’t adjust to the back-and-forth and he was eventually injured and required elbow surgery.

Entering that season, Mejia was a highly sought prospect, but his value was greatly reduced because of how he was used. The Mets couldn’t promote him as a reliever if they were afraid to use him in pressure situations. They also couldn’t promote him as a starter because they wouldn’t use him in that role, either.

After he was hurt, he missed all of 2011.

The Mets are again considering Mejia for their bullpen, but already have seven candidates without him. Just how much work would he get?

If not up here, they should use him as a starter in the minors, which is probably in their best long-term interest because that would hasten his development and possibly build his trade value.

I see him starting the season in Triple-A, but where ever he ends up, just pick a role and stick with it. In the end, I also see it never happening for Mejia with the Mets. They blew this one.

There is nothing left for Mejia to learn at Vegas. He is a ML pitcher and would be in the rotation of any other team except the Mets because they are simply idiots and have an absolute imbecile in the dugout.

You don’t negate all his promise of a high end arm in order to pitch a has been like Dice K or a John Lannan. If anything, you start Dice K in AAA, pitch Mejia and if he gets hurt, you bring Dice K up. If he doesn’t, you either trade Dice K or release him.

How is Mejia supposed to show what he can do when they don’t pitch him? as it stand now he is going to the BP because this idiotic organization learned nothing the last time around. How do I know? Dice K pitches 4 innings or more and Mejia is still stuck at 2.

I also agree that he should be the fifth starter, but they think they know what they have with the vets. I think this is wrong because over the past 5 years it has been the young pitchers not the hired vets who have helped the team the most.

I would not have a problem in the pen if the team had a plan. In other words this is what you need to be a starter. Work on that. Many pitchers started in the pen. But there needs to be a plan
Jennry is a talented player. He has proved he can get mlb hitters out. What he needs is a chance. He is more polished
Than Thor. Thor may ultimately be the better pitcher, but right now. Today he is better

I think he can step right in as a 7th or 8th inning set up man (in pressure situations) right now and still have the possibility of starting in his future. The Mets can’t expect him to pitch 150 innings yet, not even 120. As a reliever I would not pitch him back-to-back days.